Kindling
by luvin-benadam
Summary: She couldn't risk telling Jughead, not yet, not until the Black Hood was behind them for good. With no one else to turn to, Betty seeks comfort in Archie.


Her mind ached. The stress from the day had settled itself between her eyes, radiating upwards and across the front of her head, pounding in rhythm to the beating of her heart. She rubbed her fingers against the pain, hoping the counter-pressure would distract from the sensation but her head continued to throb. Betty stood, pinching the bridge of her nose and throwing the covers off her. She had been hoping that sleep would be a well-deserved reprieve from reality but instead all she had gotten was a frustrating hour of laying on her bed, unable to turn off.

Her hands still shook every time she glanced at her phone, terrified of the ringing and the person who waited for her on the other end. She had taken control of the situation but the very real fear of the Black Hood lashing out in anger and retaliating on one of her friends haunted her every moment.

Picking up the phone, Betty clicked into Archie's contact and tapped out a quick text. _"You home?"_

She pulled aside her bedroom curtains and glanced into the dark bedroom window across from hers as her phone beeped from her hands.

 _"Will be in 5,"_ came Archie's response.

Without answering Betty threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, throwing her jacket overtop and bolting from the door, crossing the hedge that separated hers and Archie's houses and sat on his stoop, patiently waiting for him to return home. There was a small part of her that hoped that the Black Hood was watching, that he would see her alone and vulnerable in this moment and seize it. End the torture that had been wracking her since the night of his first call. Betty pushed the thought aside, hating herself for considering such a grim option when she realized that it was only an out for her, and that everyone else would suffer because of it.

He spotted her as he rounded the walkway to his house, her head resting against the palms of her hands and rubbing her temples. She looked exhausted, her hair down and framing her face, deep circles under her eyes, foot tapping anxiously against the steps she sat on.

"Betty?"

His surprised voice caught her attention as her head snapped up to meet him, his letterman jacket wrapped around him to stave off the cold.

"Are you okay?" he asked as she made no move to stand from her spot.

A single meeting of their eyes told Archie she was not okay and he took a seat next to her as she buried her face into the palms of her hands.

"What is it, what happened?" he asked hurriedly and with worry for his friend. "Did the Black Hood call you again?"

She shook her head and raised her eyes to meet his, swallowing back her fear. "I'm so scared, Arch." Her voice barely rose above the fear in her tone.

Archie pulled his jacket off and wrapped it around her shoulders, gently rubbing his hand against her back as a way of comforting her.

"I can't sleep," she admitted. "I haven't been able to sleep since this whole thing started." She hated showing him how vulnerable she was, hated that the weakest side of her needed someone to share her burdens with so badly.

"Come on," Archie said, looping his arm across her back and pulling her standing. "Come inside, its freezing."

He led her right upstairs, sitting her down against his bed and pulling her tired body against his in a tight, warm hug as she cried into his shoulder, finally releasing all the tension and strain that had built up inside her. He pressed his face into the down of her hair as he stroked her back, desperate to provide some sort of comfort to his anguished friend as she broke down in his arms.

"Tell me what I can do to help," he whispered as he rocked her back and forth, her sobs quieting against the wet sleeve of his arm.

"I don't want to be alone." She pulled away, her eyes bright with tears and pale streaks running down her cheeks.

He instinctively reached up to wipe a stray tear from her face, noting the softness of her skin against the tips of his fingers. "Stay here tonight."

Betty swallowed. "Are you sure?"

Archie nodded. "You shouldn't be alone. I'll sleep on the floor next to you."

"Arch, I can't…" she started to protest.

"Of course you can," he interrupted. "You need to sleep, Betty. No offense but you look awful."

She laughed lightly at his smile and nodded her head in agreement. "Okay," she whispered.

Archie stood from his spot next to her on the bed and pulled back the covers next to her, patting the empty spot beneath the blankets as she crawled in beneath them and laid her head against the down of the pillow. It smelled of him, a scent so resolutely familiar and comforting that she immediately felt a sense of calm wash over her.

"I'll stay with you until you fall asleep," Archie offered, taking her hand resting over the covers and enveloping it in his own. With his other he reached over and clicked off the bedside lamp.

She blinked his dark form into focus, gratitude and appreciation washing over her in a warm sensation that spread from his hand touching her throughout her.

"Archie," she whispered, her voice already full of sleep.

"Mhm?" came his quiet response.

"Thank you."

He smiled in sadness, his heart aching for her pain. "Goodnight, Betty."

With his hand still wrapped tight against hers, he felt the pressure go slack as sleep washed over her and she drifted into peaceful unconsciousness. He couldn't bare to leave her. Asleep she looked just as she did when they were kids, her blonde hair a halo around her the soft paleness of her skin, her face a wash of ease and carelessness that she didn't have while awake. He reached out to stroke the stray hairs out of her eyes and tucked them gently behind her ear, admiring the soft breaths that rose and fell her chest beneath the covers.

Hesitantly he removed himself from the bed and grabbed the spare blankets from the hall closet and set himself up a bed next to where she slept, tucking himself beneath the blankets and glancing up to where she hadn't moved, deep within sleep. With a brief smile Archie closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep next to her.

He woke with a start, trying to place what had woken him so suddenly before realizing that the gasping noise he could hear was coming from beside him.

Betty.

Archie pushed himself from the floor with a start and sat next to her on the bed. Her breaths were coming in short, sharp gasps and rivets of tears were running down her face as she struggled to catch her breath. Her hands, pale, were clasped against her heaving chest.

"What happened?" he asked, breathless with worry as their eyes locked, his hands reaching any inch of her he could touch to see if she was injured.

Words escaped her, she could only respond to his anxious touch with more tears.

"Betty," his voice broke, trying hard to fight off his own tears to stay strong for her and placing a palm on each of her cheeks. "Breathe."

She gasped air into her lungs, a deep breath that reached to the core and exhaled, sense flooding back into her body.

"Again," he whispered, his hands still flush against her cold skin.

She did as he commanded, her breaths coming easier each time until at last she could see him clearly through her blurry, teared eyes.

"What happened," he asked with concern.

She swallowed and closed her eyes. "It was just a nightmare," she admitted. "Just a nightmare."

Archie dropped his hands from her face and swallowed his relief.

"I'm sorry I woke you," she confessed.

He shook his head. "Don't be stupid, I'm just worried about you. You should see if you can get some sleep. It's almost morning." He stood and turned his back to her.

"Wait."

Archie turned back, his dark eyes locking against her light.

"Will you stay with me?"

Confusion knitted between his brows, unsure of what she meant. Betty slid over against the far side of the bed, her body flush against the wall and placed her hand on the empty space beside her. He hesitated only a moment but knew he wouldn't deny her and crawled into the bed next to her, the space warm from her body. Archie settled himself under the blankets and turned to face her, their heads each on a pillow and breathing in each other's proximity in the small space.

"Close your eyes. I promise you're not alone," he assured, a sensation fluttering within his belly.

She smiled and closed her eyes, the scent of him settling within her like a drug, extinguishing the fires fear had lit within her and instantly drifted back off to sleep. With a final look at her long lashes pressed against the soft skin of her face, Archie closed his eyes and fell asleep beside her.

Morning dawned cold and early and his eyes blinked a few times before reality made sense. He was warm, much warmer than he should be with his bedroom window open a crack for fresh air and he tried to place the warmth. He understood as he took a deep breath and the familiar scent of soap and floral washed over him, a scent that was unmistakably Betty. Her back was pressed against his front, their bodies pressed tight against one another with his arm strewn over her body and tucked neatly against her waist.

He sighed in the familiarity of her, set alight by this new side of her he had never experienced before and placed his head back against the pillow. There were certainly ramifications for these actions but he would deal with them later. Right now with his best friend sound asleep in his arms and in the most peaceful state she had been in for weeks, he was in no mood to stir her. And if he was honest with himself, it was also the happiest he had been in some time himself.


End file.
